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PRINCIPLES    OF    COLONIAL 
GOVERNMENT 


'g  SHorft  Series 


PRINCIPLES 


OF 


COLONIAL 
GOVERNMENT 

Adapted    to    the    Present    Needs    of  Cuba    and 
Porto  Rico,  and  of  the  Philippines 


BY 

HORACE   N.    FISHER 


BOSTON 
L.  C.  PAGE  fcf  COMPANY 

MDCCCC 


Copyright,  1899 
BY  L.  C.  PAGE  AND  COMPANY 

(INCORPORATED) 
All  rights  reserved 


Colonial  $3rrs0 : 

Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  C.  H.  Simonds  &  Co. 
Boston,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE. 

Assuming  that  the  object  of  Government  is  to 
assure  to  the  governed  the  enjoyment  of  peace,  order 
and  justice,  it  is  obvious  that  the  principles  and  form 
of  government  must  be  adapted  to  the  present  needs 
and  progressive  civilization  of  the  governed ;  and  that, 
consequently,  the  form  of  government  best  suited  to 
accomplish  these  ends  will  depend  upon  the  past 
experience,  present  condition  and  political  capacity 
of  the  governed. 

In  this  memorandum  it  is  proposed  to  consider 
briefly  the  past  experience  and  apparent  political 
capacity  of  the  people  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  and 
of  the  Philippine  Archipelago,  for  whose  peace  and 
prosperity  the  United  States  is  responsible. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune,  during  two  years  of 
South  American  travel,  to  have  visited  all  but  two 
of  the  countries  of  South  America  and  to  have  per- 
sonally known,  either  in  South  America  or  in  the 
United  States,  many  of  their  leading  statesmen,  diplo- 
matists and  historians,  to  whose  courtesy  I  am  in- 
debted for  information  not  easily  obtainable;  while 
as  consul  in  Boston,  for  over  twenty  years,  of  one 


4  PREFACE. 

of  these  countries,  and  honorary  member  of  several 
of  their  national  societies,  opportunity  has  been  offered 
to  keep  in  touch  with  Spanish-American  questions  and 
peoples,  and  to  observe  their  capacity  and  tendencies. 

HORACE  N.  FISHER. 
Boston,  Nov.  25, 1899. 


POINTS  OF  DISCUSSION. 


PART  I.  —  CUBA  AND  PORTO   RICO. 
SECTION  PAGE 

1.  COMMON  ORIGIN  OF  THE  CASTILIAN  "PUEBLO"  OF  SPAN- 

ISH AMERICA  AND  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN  .         .       7 

2.  SPANISH  AMERICA  AN  APPANAGE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF 

CASTILE 10 

3.  DECADENCE   OF  SPAIN   DATES  FROM   THE  OVERTHROW 

OF  THE  CASTILIAN  SYSTEM  OF  SELF-GOVERNMENT  — 

IN  BOTH  SPAIN  AND  HER  COLONIES  .         .         .11 

4.  THE  "NATIONAL  IDEA"  AND  THE   "IMPERIAL  IDEA"     12 

5.  THE    UNITED    STATES,    BY    THE   CONSTITUTION,    is  IM- 

PERIAL       .........     14 

6.  THE    IMPERIAL    POLICY    OF    GREAT   BRITAIN    IN    HER 

COLONIES 15 

7.  THE  FATAL  MISTAKE   IN  THE  SPANISH-AMERICAN  WAR 

OF  INDEPENDENCE      .......     18 

8.  POLITICAL  INCAPACITY  OF  CUBA  AND  SPANISH  COLONIES 

IN  GENERAL        ........     19 

9.  REVERSION  TO  THE  "PUEBLO"  SYSTEM  AS  THE  START- 

ING-POINT IN  REGENERATION 21 

10.  THE   TRUE  POLICY    FOR  THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  PROS- 

PERITY OF  COLONIES 22 

11.  BASIS    OF    THE    PRIMACY    OF   THE   UNITED   STATES    IN 

AMERICA 24 

12.  SLOW  GROWTH  OF  THE  "  NATIONAL  IDEA  "  IN  THE 

UNITED  STATES 25 

13.  INCAPACITY  OF  THE  ANTILLES  FOR  INDEPENDENT  SELF- 

GOVERNMENT  AT  THIS  TIME  is  THEIR  MISFORTUNE 
RATHER  THAN  THEIR  FAULT  .    .    .    .    .26 

14.  ENCOURAGING  FACTOR  FOR  THE  REGENERATION  OF  CUBA 

AND  PORTO  Rico 28 

5 


6  POINTS   OF  DISCUSSION. 

PART  II. —THE   PHILIPPINES. 

16.     CONDITION    OF    THE    PHILIPPINES    STILL    IMPERFECTLY 

KNOWN       .........     30 

16.  AN   ELASTIC   AND    TENTATIVE   TYPE    OF   GOVERNMENT 

RECOMMENDED  .......     32 

17.  THE    GOVERNOR'S    RESPONSIBILITY    SHOULD   BE  UNDI- 

VIDED AND  STRICT     .......     32 

18.  TOLERATION,  CIVIL  AND  RELIGIOUS,  A  CARDINAL  PRIN- 

CIPLE         .........     33 

19.  THE   "ASIATIC    IDEAL,"    THE    KEY    TO   PROBLEMS   OF 

ASIATIC  GOVERNMENT        ......     34 

20.  THE   FILIPINOS   LACK   THE  "  INSTINCT  OF  COHESION  " 

NECESSARY  FOR  THE  RULE  OF  THE  MAJORITY  — 
THE  BASIS  OF  SELF-GOVERNMENT  .  .  .  .37 

21.  "  VILLAGE    SOLIDARITY  "    THE    BASIC    PRINCIPLE    OF 

GOVERNMENT  IN  ASIA 38 

22.  THE  JAPANESE  "  MURA  "  A  FACTOR  OF  SELF-GOVERN- 

MENT   41 

23.  OBEDIENCE   TO  THE    WILL  OF  THE   MAJORITY  ALONE 

CAN  MAKE  THE  MINORITY  ORDERLY  AND  SAFE  ; 
WITHOUT  IT  SELF-GOVERNMENT  IMPOSSIBLE  .  .  45 

24.  A  NEW  LEGAL   STATUS,  "  COLONIAL   DEPENDENCIES," 

SHOULD  BE  CREATED         ......     46 

25.  TENDENCY  OF  THE  AGE  TO  NATIONAL  CONSOLIDATION 

AND  IMPERIAL  EXPANSION,  AND  TO  INTERNATIONAL 
COMBINATION  ........  48 

26.  TOLERATION  —  THE   RECOGNITION  THAT   THE    RACE-IN- 

STINCTS OF  THE  NATIVES,  AS  EVINCED  BY  LAWS  AND 
RELIGIOUS  SYSTEMS,  CANNOT  BE  CHANGED  BY  LEGIS- 
LATION ANY  MORE  THAN  THE  COLOR  OF  THEIR 
SKIN  —  NECESSARY  IN  GOVERNING  RACES  DIFFER- 
ENT FROM  OUR  OWN  50 


PRINCIPLES  OF  COLONIAL  GOVERN- 
MENT ADAPTED  TO  THE  PRESENT 
NEEDS  OF  CUBA  AND  PORTO  RICO, 
AND  OF  THE  PHILIPPINES. 


PART  I. 

CUBA   AND   PORTO   RICO. 

§f.    Common    Origin    of    the    Castilian    Pueblo    of 
Spanish  America  and  the  New  England  Town* 

Investigations  of  Spain's  Colonial  System  in  Amer- 
ica, begun  more  than  twenty-five  years  ago  in  con- 
nection with  a  study  of  Spanish-American  questions, 
led  me  back  to  the  original  Town  System  there  estab- 
lished, which  was  that  of  the  Gothic  Kingdom  of 
Castile,  which  in  turn  was  identical  with  the  old 
Anglo-Saxon  Town  System  brought  to  New  England 
and  here  developed. 

Our  Anglo-Saxon  forefathers  were  originally  the 
kinsmen  and  neighbors  of  the  great  West  Gothic 
branch  of  the  Teutonic  race  ;  they  founded  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Kingdoms  in  England  at  the  same  time  the 

7 


8       PRINCIPLES  OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

West  Gothic  Kingdom  of  Castile  was  founded,  —  in 
the  middle  of  the  fifth  century ;  and  it  was  but 
natural  that  there  should  be  a  close  resemblance 
between  the  Castilian  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  systems 
of  local  government  in  their  new  homes,  whether  in 
Europe  or  the  New  World. 

Indeed,  our  early  New  England  Town  and  the 
Castilian  "  Pueblo  "  (town)  hi  Spanish  America  were 
formed  on  precisely  the  same  lines :  they  were  each 
pure  democracies,  with  annual  town  meetings,  where 
the  townsmen  elected  town  officers  with  similar  func- 
tions, and  managed  their  town  affairs  on  similar 
communistic  principles.  In  both  cases,  the  Town  and 
the  "  Pueblo  "  was  a  territorial  township  with  defined 
boundaries,  divided  into  "  commons  "  of  pasture,  of 
meadow,  and  of  woodland,  in  charge  of  field-drivers, 
haywards,  and  woodreeves ;  there  were  also  the  "  Com- 
mon Planting-field "  and  the  Town  Granary ;  the 
townsmen  were  admitted  to  the  "  Freedom  of  the 
Town"  by  vote  of  the  Town  Meeting,  and  were 
assigned  "  houselots  "  for  their  private  use ;  the  area 
granted  for  a  houselot  is  conclusive  evidence  of  the 
common  origin  of  the  "  Town  "  and  the  "  Pueblo,"  to 
wit,  —  twelve  acres  to  married  and  eight  acres  to 
unmarried  men  in  our  New  England  Towns  (e.g. 
Dedham,  1637),  and  in  the  Pueblos  of  Spanish 
America  three  cuadras  (=  twelve  acres)  and  two 
cuadras  respectively.  The  Alcalde  and  Regidores  of 
the  Pueblo  had  the  powers  of  our  Selectmen;  in 


ADAPTED   TO   CUBA   AND  PORTO  RICO. 

both,  the  Town  Clerk  was  registrar  of  all  land  con- 
veyances, as  well  as  of  the  orders  of  the  Town 
Officers  and  of  the  Town  Meeting;  the  Town  Con- 
stable collected  the  taxes  apportioned  to  each  inhabi- 
tant. Every  town  had  its  training  field  and  annual 
muster,  and  every  townsman  was  held  to  military 
service,  and  to  have  his  arms  in  readiness.1  The  very 
name  "  By-laws,"  given  to  distinguish  Town  regulations 
from  State  legislation,  carries  us  back  fifteen  cen- 
turies to  the  Baltic  homes  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and 
Goth,  where  the  village  settlement  was  called  "  By  " 
and  its  laws  "  By-lage." 

In  a  word,  the  original  town  governments  of  Span- 
ish America  and  of  New  England  were  derived  from 
a  common  source,  were  practically  the  same,  and 
were  peculiar  to  a  race  famous  for  its  virile  energy 
and  individual  initiative,  which  have  made  both  its 
branches  successful  colonizers. 

If  we  turn  to  history,  we  shall  see  how  this  Gothic 

1  The  first  Town  Meeting  on  the  mainland  of  America  was  that 
which  Cortez  called  on  landing  in  Mexico.  It  established  the 
Pueblo  of  Vera  Cruz,  with  a  full  list  of  town-officers,  elected  by 
popular  vote ;  it  elected  Cortez  as  Captain  General  and,  as  Cap- 
tain General  of  the  Pueblo  of  Vera  Cruz,  he  conquered  the 
Empire  of  the  Montezumas.  The  Gothic  blood,  the  blue  eyes 
and  light  hair  of  the  Castilian  Conquerors  of  Mexico  caused  the 
Mexicans  to  believe  that  they  were  the  "Children  of  the  Sun," 
whose  coming  had  been  foretold ;  Alvarado  was  called  by  them 
the  "  Sun  God  "  because  of  his  flowing  flaxen  beard  and  fiery  blue 
eyes.  Queen  Isabella  was  a  blonde,  and  to  this  day  the  Castilian 
is  as  noted  for  his  fair  complexion  as  the  Andalusian  for  his  olive 
complexion. 


10    PRINCIPLES  OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

system  of  Town  Government  happened  to  be  estab- 
lished in  Spanish  America,  and  how  it  was  buried, 
first  in  Spain  and  later  in  Spanish  America,  beneath 
the  centralized  bureaucratic  despotism  of  Philip  II., 
which  proved  so  fatal  to  Spain.  Prescott  (in  his 
Philip  II.,  Vol.  i.,  p.  3)  thus  describes  the  conse- 
quences of  the  overthrow  of  Castilian  self-government 
in  the  War  of  the  "  Comunidades  "  : 

"  From  that  fatal  hour  an  unbroken  tranquillity  reigned 
throughout  the  country,  —  such  a  tranquillity  as  naturally 
flows,  not  from  a  free,  well-conducted  government,  but  from  a 
despotism." 

§2*    Spanish  America   an  Appanage  of  the  King- 
dom of  Castile* 

It  should  be  remembered  that  Columbus  made  his 
famous  voyage  as  Admiral  of  Castile  and  at  the 
expense  of  the  Treasury  of  Castile ;  that,  consequently, 
Spanish  America  became  an  appanage  of  Isabella's 
Kingdom  of  Castile,  —  not  of  Spain.  In  the  cathe- 
dral at  Seville  one  can  still  read  King  Ferdinand's  in- 
scription on  the  monument  there  raised  to  Columbus : 

"  To  Castile  and  Leon  Colon  gave  a  New  World." 

It  was  for  this  reason  that  Queen  Isabella  caused  the 
Laws  and  Privileges  of  Castile  to  be  codified,  for 
the  use  of  her  subjects  in  Spanish  America,  under 
the  name  of  "  Laws  of  the  Indies." 

Thus  it  was  that  the  Laws  and  Rights  of  Self- 


ADAPTED  TO  CUBA  AND  PORTO  RICO.        11 

government  of  Gothic  Castile  became  the  original 
constituted  Government  of  Spanish  America,  —  under 
which  were  developed  the  marvellous  virility  and 
individual  initiative  of  Spanish  Explorers  and  Con- 
querors in  the  New  World.  In  both  Spain  and  Span- 
ish America  this  period  was  the  most  magnificent  in 
Spain's  history.  So  long  as  fhis  life-giving  system  of 
local  government  prevailed,  Spain  was  the  foremost 
power  of  Christendom,  and  enjoyed  a  prosperity  at 
home  and  a  respect  abroad  far  beyond  any  other 
nation  of  that  period. 

§  3»  The  Decadence  of  Spam  Dates  from  the  Over- 
throw of  Castilian  System  of  Self-government 
—  in  both  Spain  and  Her  Colonies* 

The  decadence  of  Spain  dates  from  the  overthrow 
of  this  democratic  system  of  local  self-government, 
and  the  substitution  of  a  centralized  bureaucratic  sys- 
tem of  government  consummated  by  Philip  II.,  of 
whom  it  was  said,  "The  king's  hand  is  in  every 
man's  mouth." 

The  paralyzing  effect  of  this  momentous  change 
was  nowhere  more  marked  than  in  Spain's  American 
possessions,  where  all  governmental  positions  were 
filled  by  "  Peninsulares,"  sent  out  from  Spain  to  farm 
(i.e.  "  exploiter  "  —  to  make  the  most  out  of)  the 
colonies. 

The  tendency  of  such  a  proconsular  system  has 
always  been  not  only  to  official  corruption  and  oppres- 


12    PRINCIPLES   OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

sion  (as  in  Sicily  under  Verres),  but  to  disqualify  the 
colonies  for  self-government ;  and  throughout  Span- 
ish America  it  ultimately  reduced  the  colonies  to  a 
state  of  civil  and  religious  pupilage  under  Civil  over- 
lords ("  Audiencias ")  and  Religious  over-lords  (In- 
quisitors and  Monastic  Brotherhoods),  sent  out  from 
Spain  in  relays. 

The  curse  of  the  Latin  mind  intensified  this  evil 
tendency,  namely  :  the  mania  for  "  Uniformity," —  a 
uniformity  of  Law  as  well  as  of  Religion,  irrespective 
of  climate,  race  and  condition  of  life  in  the  several 
colonies.  It  is  obvious  that  Uniformity  must  depend, 
for  its  successful  application,  upon  the  close  similarity 
of  the  peoples,  and  their  various  conditions,  within  its 
jurisdiction.  In  Spanish  America  the  extreme  diver- 
sity of  race  and  conditions,  compared  with  Spain  and 
even  in  her  adjacent  colonies,  made  this  attempted 
Unification  (which  seems  inherent  to  Centralization) 
peculiarly  disastrous  to  the  political  and  material  and 
intellectual  development  of  the  Spanish  colonies.1 

§4.    The  " National  Idea"  and  the  " Imperial 
Idea." 

While  the  "  National  Idea  "  involves  the  subordina- 
tion of  the  individual  will  and  of  local  interests  to  the 

1  At  the  time  of  the  Spanish-American  Revolution  (1810)  there 
was  only  one  printing-press  in  the  Spanish  Colonies  of  all  South 
America.  Everything  there  printed  (i.e.  at  Lima)  was  supervised 
by  the  Inquisitors,  and  all  foreign  books  imported  were  submitted 
to  their  censorship. 


ADAPTED   TO   CUBA   AND  PORTO  RICO.        13 

Will  of  the  Majority  and  to  the  general  interests  of 
the  Nation,  it  should  be  also  recognized  that  —  when- 
ever the  nation  has  an  unavoidable  diversity  of  inter- 
ests, based  upon  great  difference  of  race,  religion  and 
stage  of  civilization  —  diversity  of  jurisprudence  and 
of  form  of  government  becomes  a  logical  necessity. 

Thus  the  "  Imperial  Idea,"  involving  diversity  of 
jurisprudence  and  form  of  government,  is  one  of  the 
necessary  consequences  of  colonial  expansion.  Hence, 
"  Imperialism "  is-  an  incident  of  every  national  de- 
velopment, which  includes  colonial  possessions  with 
diversity  of  conditions  of  life. 

For  this  reason,  the  numerous  colonies  and  posses- 
sions of  Great  Britain  imposed  upon  her  an  Imperial 
System  of  Government  long  before  the  Queen  became 
Empress  of  India.  The  diversity  of  form  of  govern- 
ment in  the  various  British  colonies  —  from  the 
primitive  "  Crown  Colony  "  to  the  "  Responsible-Gov- 
ernment Colony  "  —  was  a  practical  recognition  of  the 
Imperial  character  of  the  British  Government.  Upon 
that  recognition  and  its  steady  observance  depend  the 
prosperity  and  progress,  the  liberty  and  political  ca- 
pacity, of  the  people  of  the  colonies. 

The  failure  of  the  Spanish  monarchs  to  recognize 
the  necessary  and  radical  difference  between  the 
National  and  the  Imperial  systems  of  government, 
especially  in  colonial  management,  caused  the  Spanish 
colonies  to  lose  their  capacity  for  self-government  and 
ultimately  lost  them  to  Spain. 


14     PRINCIPLES   OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

It  behooves  us,  then,  as  the  successors  of  Spain  in 
the  West  Indies  and  the  Philippines,  to  recognize 
that  we  have  entered  upon  the  Imperial  stage  of 
National  Development,  and  that  we  must  arrange 
forms  of  government  for  our  new  possessions  practi- 
cally suited  to  their  present  capacity  and  needs ;  that 
diversity  of  laws  and  of  form  of  government,  accord- 
ing to  the  needs  of  each  colony,  is  and  must  be  the 
cardinal  principle  upon  which  our  success  in  colonial 
government  must  inevitably  depend. 


§5.    The    United   States,  by  the  Constitution,  is 
Imperial. 

Our  own  government  was  made  Imperial  by  the 
Constitution ;  we  live  under  a  Supreme  National  Gov- 
ernment, which  carefully  preserves  the  sovereign 
autonomy  of  the  States  in  matters  not  necessarily 
granted  to  the  National  Government.  The  great  prin- 
ciples of  our  civil  and  religious  liberty  remain  un- 
changed as  our  ideals  of  government :  and  in  adapting 
them  to  the  condition  of  the  country,  as  it  has  devel- 
oped during  the  century  now  closing,  we  have  prac- 
tically approached  nearer  and  nearer  to  our  ideal 
standards. 

Though  our  population  has  increased  fifteen-fold 
and  our  area  five-fold  during  this  century,  the  vigor 
of  both  State  and  National  governments  and  our 
prosperity  and  civilization  have  advanced  immeasur- 


ADAPTED   TO   CUBA   AND  PORTO  RICO. 


15 


ably  faster ; l  while  our  capacity  for  government  has 
steadily  increased  with  each  successive  stage  of 
National  development,  until  to  govern  has  become 
an  instinct,  and  to  be  self-governed  a  habit. 

It  seems  beyond  dispute  that  the  true  cause  of  this 
wonderful  record  is  our  constitutional  combination  of 
State  Autonomy  with  National  Sovereignty,  —  the 
very  essence  of  the  "  Imperial  Idea." 

§  6*    The  Imperial  Policy  of  Great  Britain  in  Her 
Colonies. 

Though  rival  nations  predicted  the  decline  of  Great 
Britain  on  the  loss  of  her  American  colonies,  that 
loss  changed  the  British  Colonial  Policy.  Instead  of 
stupidly  adhering  to  the  narrow  policy  of  treating 
colonies  as  established  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the 
mother  country,  as  a  source  of  taxable  revenue  and 
a  commercial  monopoly,  it  was  recognized  that  they 
should  be  treated  as  great  trusts  to  be  administered 
for  their  political  and  material  advancement,  as  the 

1  Mulhall's  estimate  of  the  wealth  of  nations  for  1898  is  as  fol- 
lows : 


United  States 
Great  Britain 

France 
Italy 
Spain 

Germany 
Russia 
Austro  -  Hungary 

$81,750,000,000 
59,030,000,000 

Anglo-Saxon  Countries, 
$140,780,000,000 

$47,950,000,000 
15,800,000,000 
11,300,000,000 

Latin  Countries, 
$75,050,000,000 

$40,260,000,000 
32,125,000,000 
22,560,000,000 

Continental  Military 
Empires, 
$94,945,000,000 

16     PRINCIPLES   OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

surest  means  to  make  them  self-governing,  self-sup- 
porting and  prosperous,  and  to  thereby  increase  their 
purchasing  power  and  make  them  better  markets  for 
British  Commerce. 

Thus,  by  successive  stages  of  political  development, 
those  colonies  have  advanced,  or  are  advancing,  from 
"  Crown  Colonies "  (where  all  Executive  and  Legis- 
lative power  is  confined  to  officials  appointed  by 
the  Crown)  to  "  Responsible- Government "  Colonies 
(where  the  only  Crown  officer  is  the  Governor-Gen- 
eral, vested  with  the  "  Moderator  Power "  of  the 
Queen).  In  this  way  Diversity  of  Jurisprudence  and 
Diversity  of  Civil  Government,  each  adapted  to  the 
condition  of  each  colony,  have  combined  to  make 
the  British  Empire  stronger  to-day  than  ever  before. 

No  man  can  seriously  study  the  regeneration  of 
India  since  the  British  Government  took  control  after 
the  Sepoy  Mutiny  of  1857,  or  the  regeneration  of  Egypt 
now  in  progress  under  British  control,  without  recog- 
nizing how  important  a  factor  of  prosperity  and  hap- 
piness is  proving  this  wise  policy  of  adapting  systems 
of  government  and  laws  to  the  condition  of  alien  races 
aggregating  hundreds  of  millions  of  mankind. 

This  is  Imperialism  in  its  beneficence,  the  kind  of 
Imperialism  which  the  United  States  should  exercise 
in  its  dependencies  beyond  the  seas. 

The  German  Empire  of  to-day  is  a  similar  com- 
bination of  State  and  Imperial  Governments,  like  our 
Union,  Since  its  establishment  in  1871,  Germany's 


ADAPTED   TO   CUBA  AND  PORTO  EICO.        17 

progress  in  industrial  and  commercial  condition  has 
been  marvellous. 

Austria's  defeat  at  Sadowa  has  proved  her  regen- 
eration under  the  statesmanlike  genius  of  Von  Beust, 
who  adopted  the  policy  of  State  Autonomy  under 
Imperial  control. 

Italy,  on  the  contrary,  has  adhered  to  the  Latin 
fetich  of  Unity  of  Jurisprudence  and  National  Soli- 
darity :  her  internal  condition  is  the  reverse  of  satis- 
factory, not  encouraging  in  its  tendency. 

But  Spain,  verifying  the  traditional  incapacity  of 
her  Bourbon  monarchs  to  profit  by  experience,  which 
seems  to  have  infected  the  nation,  has  clung  to  the 
old  mediaeval  policy  of  treating  her  colonies  as  sources 
of  revenue  and  commercial  monopoly  and  a  field  of 
Government  patronage.  If  she,  on  the  loss  of  her 
American  colonies  eighty  years  ago,  had  changed  her 
colonial  policy  as  Great  Britain  did  on  a  similar  loss, 
Spain  would  probably  have  been  spared  her  recent 
humiliation. 

Thus  we  have  for  our  guidance,  at  this  new  devel- 
opment of  our  national  life,  the  experience  of  other 
nations  who  have  learned  to  their  sorrow  the  tremen- 
dous mistake  of  attempting  to  apply  a  uniform  system 
of  government  and  laws  to  dependencies,  where  the 
conditions  of  life  and  present  political  capacity  radi- 
cally differ  from  those  of  the  nation  at  home,  and  also 
vary  in  the  different  colonies. 

Great  Britain  wisely  and  nobly  took  this  lesson  to 


18    PRINCIPLES  OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

heart ;  but  Spain  refused  to  profit  by  her  experience, 
and  hence  is  seen  the  fatal  effect  of  ignoring  this 
necessary  natural  diversity,  in  the  stagnation  of 
political  life  in  her  colonies  and  their  lack  of  capacity 
to  govern  themselves. 

§  7.    Fatal  Mistake  in  the   Spanish-American  War 
of  Independence. 

In  the  Spanish-American  War  of  Independence 
(1810-20)  Spain  lost  all  of  her  American  Colonies 
except  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico.  It  was  but  natural 
that  the  revolutionary  colonies  should  demand  every 
right  which  had  heretofore  been  denied  them.  Hence 
the  terrible  mistake  —  now  confessed  by  Spanish  - 
American  historians  and  statesmen 1  —  of  adopting,  in 
their  new  governments,  the  radical  doctrines  of  the 
French  Revolution  instead  of  the  conservative  prin- 
ciples of  the  American  Revolution.  The  result  was 
the  immediate  enfranchisement  of  all  races  and  condi- 
tions of  men  on  the  doctrine  of  Liberty,  Equality  and 
Fraternity,  irrespective  of  their  past  experience  and 
political  capacity;  they  were  able  to  destroy,  but 
lacked  the  power  to  build  up  governments. 

1  Don  Miguel  Luis  Amanategui,  a  distinguished  statesman  and 
historian  of  Chile,  in  his  notable  history,  "Los  Precursores  de  la 
Independencia  de  Chile,"  specifically  states  that  the  fatal  mistake 
of  Spanish  America,  in  forming  new  governments,  was  to  follow 
the  French  instead  of  the  American  principles  above  stated.  He 
cites  various  authorities  of  recognized  weight  to  support  this 
opinion. 


ADAPTED   TO   CUBA   AND  PORTO  EICO.        19 

This  investure  of  an  ignorant  heterogeneous  popu- 
lation with  full  powers  of  self-government  —  for 
which  neither  they  nor  their  forefathers,  for  several 
generations  at  least,  had  had  any  practical  experience, 
—  was  followed  by  a  succession  of  revolutions  and 
dictatorships  which  kept  Spanish  America  in  turmoil 
for  a  long  period  under  self-called  republican  govern- 
ments, except  where  an  intelligent  conservative  oli- 
garchy as  in  Chile,  or  a  masterful  president  like  Diaz 
in  Mexico,  enforced  peace  and  orderly  government. 

In  no  part  of  the  world  has  the  doctrine  of  Univer- 
sal Suffrage,  as  an  inalienable  natural  right  instead 
of  a  privilege  based  on  political  capacity,  proved  more 
disastrous  to  the  welfare  of  the  country  than  in  the 
tropical  States  and  islands  of  Spanish  America  under 
republican  governments,  where  the  Caucasian  (white) 
race  varies  from  ten  per  cent,  to  twenty-five  per  cent., 
and  is  utterly  outnumbered  by  mixed  races  of  doubt- 
ful capacity,  and  by  aboriginal  races,  including  negroes, 
of  even  less  capacity  for  self-government.  In  Cuba 
and  Porto  Rico,  only,  does  the  Caucasian  race  exceed 
fifty  per  cent,  of  the  population. 

§8.    Political  Incapacity  of  Cuba  and  Spanish  Colo- 
nies in  General* 

General  Ludlow,  for  the  past  year  military  governor 
of  Havana,  recently  expressed  his  conclusions  in  re- 
gard to  the  capacity  of  the  Cubans  for  full  self-gov- 
ernment. His  diagnosis  of  the  case,  in  his  address 


20     PRINCIPLES   OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

before  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  cannot 
but  accord  with  the  opinion  of  those  who  have  care- 
fully studied  the  history  and  political  condition  of  the 
other  Spanish-American  Colonies  at  the  time  of  their 
emancipation. 

[Extract  from  General  Ludlow's  Address,  as  published.] 
"  The  Cuban  character,  in  the  best  representatives  of  the 
people,  is  full  of  urbanity,  refinement  and  intelligence,  — 
especially  acuteness  and  subtlety ;  but  it  is  devoid  of  execu- 
tive and  practical  power,  and  particularly  of  that  Instinct  of 
Cohesion  which  is  essential  to  the  Formation  of  Majorities,  and 
of  that  Respect  for  the  Majority  which  can  alone  render  a 
Minority  orderly  and  safe.  Thus  they  lack  the  prime 
elements  of  effective  national  action." 

If  this  be  a  correct  view  of  the  actual  condition  of 
Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  it  is  largely  due  to  the  causes 
already  discussed,  which  have  reduced  the  virile  and 
self-governing  Spaniard  of  the  sixteenth  century  to  a 
condition  of  incapacity  for  self-government.  Indeed, 
it  has  been  truly  said : 

[Extract  from   John   Foreman's   paper   on   the   Philippines  in 
National  Review,  London,  November,  1898.] 

"  Among  the  many  liberated  States,  once  Spanish  Colonies, 
there  is  no  instance  on  record  of  any  one  of  them  having 
emancipated  itself,  within  the  first  generation  of  freedom, 
from  the  evil  influence  of  vice,  lethargy  and  misrule.  No  think- 
ing man  would  wish  to  see  a  change  of  masters  without  a 
change  of  governmental  system,  either  in  the  Philippines  or 
the  "West  India  Islands." 


ADAPTED   TO   CUBA   AND  PORTO  EICO.        21 

In  a  word,  a  different  system  of  government  must 
be  devised  to  correct  the  evils  of  a  system  which  has 
reduced  the  original  self-governing  and  energetic 
Spaniard  to  such  a  condition  of  political  incapacity 
as  that  described  above.  Such  new  system  should 
restore  the  lost  capacity ;  and  its  merit  can  be 
measured  by  the  degree  of  self-governing  power, 
which  it  may  develop. 

§  9.    Reversion  to  the  "  Pwcblo  System/'  as  the  Start- 
ing-point in  Regeneration* 

Having  already  discussed  the  apparent  cause  of 
this  loss  of  political  capacity  in  Spain's  American 
Colonies,  it  would  seem  to  be  the  most  natural 
remedy  to  revert  to  the  original  race-system  as  the 
foundation  upon  which  to  build  up  the  new  system 
and  thence  to  follow  the  lines  upon  which  our  own 
system  of  local  government  has  been  developed  from 
a  basis  substantially  identical  with  it,  having  due 
regard  to  the  special  conditions  of  each  case.  The 
object  in  view  is  to  develop  their  capacity  for  self- 
government  and  for  individual  initiative,  and  thus  fit 
them  for  governing  themselves  in  national  as  well  as 
local  government,  by  progressive  stages. 

Therefore  it  is  suggested  that  we  treat  the  whole 
superimposed  system  of  centralized  Spanish  misrule 
(moving  no  faster,  however,  than  the  natives  can  com- 
prehend and  act  wisely  in  this  governmental  reform) 
as  an  accumulation  of  political  lava  and  ashes,  which 


22     PRINCIPLES   OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

must  be  removed  down  to  the  bed-rock  of  their  origi- 
nal Pueblo  System  of  Castile ;  and  from  that,  as  the 
Starting-point,  reconstruct  political  life  and  self-gov- 
ernment in  accordance  with  the  gradual  development 
of  political  life  and  capacity  in  our  own  experience. 

If  we  frankly  explain  this  policy  to  the  people  of 
the  Antilles,  —  that  we  seek  their  political  regenera- 
tion by  reverting  to  their  own  original  system  which 
made  their  early  history  so  glorious,  —  we  need  not 
fear  any  failure  of  their  earnest  cooperation  in  the 
great  work  of  constructive  statesmanship,  for  which 
our  government  has  become  responsible ;  for  the 
peculiar  characteristic  of  the  Spanish  American  is 
that,  though  it  is  difficult  to  win  his  full  confidence, 
it  becomes  instinctive  and  unfaltering  when  once  it  is 
won. 

§  JO.    The   True   Policy    for   the   Government    and 
Prosperity  of  Colonies. 

We  do  not  seek  colonies  or  far-away  dependencies 
as  a  source  of  supply  for  our  National  Treasury,  or  as 
a  Commercial  Monopoly,  or  as  a  new  field  for  Govern- 
ment patronage.  That  idea  was  long  ago  recognized 
as  bad  policy.  In  this  sense  we  justly  abhor  vassal 
states  and  subject  races. 

The  true  policy  has  been  found  to  be  to  help  the 
colony  or  dependency  by  protecting  it  from  foreign 
encroachment  and  internal  misrule  during  its  appren- 
ticeship in  the  art  of  self-government,  and  to  give 


ADAPTED   TO   CUBA   AND  PORTO  RICO.        23 

every  reasonable  assistance  to  make  it  self-supporting 
and  self-governing,  and  to  attain  the  utmost  practical 
measure  of  modern  civilization  and  development. 

Our  reward  will  not  be  immediate ;  though  the 
colony  will  not  be  a  "  Commercial  Preserve,"  it  will 
become  more  and  more  valuable  as  a  profitable 
field  for  the  investment  of  our  capital,  and  as  a  pur- 
chaser of  our  surplus  manufactured  and  agricultural 
products. 

Thus  —  not  for  our  own  mere  fiscal  advantage,  but 
for  the  mutual  advantage  of  our  country  and  its 
dependency  by  securing  for  it  the  utmost  possible 
prosperity,  based  upon  its  enjoyment  of  peace,  justice 
and  progressive  self-government  —  are  we  entering 
upon  an  advanced  stage  of  national  development,  the 
results  whereof  bid  fair  to  prove  beneficial  not  only 
to  ourselves  and  our  dependencies,  but  to  the  world's 
peace  and  its  civilized  progress. 

If  our  success  in  self-government  is  —  as  it  is 
claimed  by  us  and  confessed  by  the  ablest  foreign 
publicists  —  largely  due  to  the  political  education  of 
our  Town  Meeting  System  and  its  concomitant,  the 
Public  School,  we  should  bend  our  energies  to  the 
development  of  a  Town  System  on  the  lines  above 
set  forth,  as  their  school  in  the  art  of  self-government, 
supplementing  it  with  a  practical  system  of  public 
schools  adapted  to  their  intelligent  comprehension. 
The  questions  of  full  general  government  under 
native  control  must  naturally  depend,  for  final  solu- 


24     PRINCIPLES   OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

tion,  on  the  solidity  of  the  local  governments  which 
we  are  seeking  to  establish  as  the  basis  of  colonial 
government. 

§U,    Basis  of  the  Primacy  of  the  United  States  in 
America. 

If  our  efforts  to  regenerate  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico 
by  this  natural  simple  method  are  found  to  be  fairly 
successful,  this  method  and  its  results  will  become  an 
object  lesson  to  other  Spanish-American  countries, 
likely  to  be  adopted  by  them  according  to  their 
ability ;  so  that,  in  due  course,  we  may  anticipate 
a  gradual  assimilation  of  their  methods  and  capacity 
for  self-government  to  our  own.  And  thus  it  will 
come  to  pass  that  their  prosperity  will  become  more 
and  more  closely  identified  with  ours,  and  our 
"  Sphere  of  Influence  "  become  more  potent  in  Span- 
ish America,  by  mutual  confidence  and  good  corre- 
spondence, than  the  "  Spheres  of  Influence "  estab- 
lished by  Europeans  for  the  partition  of  Africa  or  of 
China. 

Such  a  Primacy  of  the  United  States  in  America,1 

1  Prof.  T.  J.  Lawrence,  in  his  work  on  International  Law  (1898), 
says  in  §136  :  "  The  position  of  the  United  States  on  the  American 
Continent  is  in  some  respects  like,  and  in  others  exceedingly  unlike, 
that  which  is  accorded  in  Europe  to  the  Six  Great  Powers.  ...  If 
it  be  true  that  there  is  a  Primacy  in  America,  comparable  in  any 
way  with  that  which  exists  in  Europe,  it  must  be  wielded  by  her, 
and  by  her  alone."  .  .  .  Secretary  Fish,  in  his  report  to  Presi- 
dent Grant  in  July,  1870,  defines  our  position  as  follows :  "The 
United  States  .  .  .  occupy  of  necessity  a  prominent  position  on 


ADAPTED   TO   CUBA   AND  PORTO  RICO.        25 

as  the  chosen  leader  of  a  Commonwealth  of  American 
Nations,  might  well  be  accounted  our  greatest  glory. 

§  J2.    The  Slow  Growth  of  the  "National  Idea"  in 
the  United  States* 

Let  us  not  forget  that  the  "  National  Idea "  is  of 
comparatively  modern  growth;  that  the  subordina- 
tion of  local  interests  to  national  interests  — "  that 
instinct  of  cohesion  which  is  essential  to  the  forma- 
tion of  Majorities,  and  of  respect  for  the  Majority 
which  alone  can  render  a  minority  orderly  and  safe, 
the  prime  elements  of  national  action "  —  was  not 
fully  developed  in  this  country  at  the  time  of  our 
Revolution. 

Our  Continental  Congress,  at  first  conspicuous  for 
the  high  character  and  broad  statesmanship  of  its 
members,  gradually  degenerated  into  a  mere  "  Rump 
Congress;"  because  its  ablest  members,  except  the 
four  or  five  in  Europe  as  Commissioners  or  Ministers, 
were  engaged  in  forming  State  Governments  in  their 
own  States.  The  idea  of  State  Rights  permeated  that 
crisis  of  our  history:  it  took  five  years  of  War  — 
until  1781  —  to  perfect  our  "Articles  of  Confedera- 
tion," because  of  the  jealousies  and  rivalries  of  the 
several  States ;  and,  when  peace  came,  those  jealousies 

this  continent  .  .  .  which  entitles  them  to  a  leading  voice  and 
which  imposes  on  them  duties  of  right  and  honor  regarding 
American  questions,  whether  they  affect  emancipated  colonies,  or 
colonies  still  subject  to  European  dominion." 


26     PRINCIPLES   OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

and  rivalries  threatened  to  nullify  the  results  gained 
by  our  War  of  Independence. 

Hamilton  declared  the  general  opinion  of  the  coun- 
try when  he  wrote  these  words,  soon  after  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention  adjourned  and  while  it  was 
uncertain  whether  the  States  would  adopt  the  Con- 
stitution agreed  to  by  it : 

"A  nation  without  a  national  government  is  an  awful 
spectacle."  l 

In  a  memorandum  prepared  by  him  about  this 
time,  he  said : 

"  A  Reunion  with  Great  Britain,  from  universal  disgust  at 
a  state  of  commotion,  is  not  impossible.  .  .  .  The  most  plau- 
sible shape  of  such  a  business  would  be  the  establishment  of  a 
son  of  the  present  monarch  in  the  supreme  government  of  this 
country,  with  a  family  compact."  2 

Thus  we  have  proofs  of  the  weakness  of  the  "  Na- 
tional Idea"  even  in  our  own  country  but  little  over 
a  century  ago.  It  was  not  until  the  Civil  War  (1861- 
65)  completed  the  subordination  of  state  Sovereignty 
to  National  Supremacy  that  we  really  became  a 
Nation. 

§  J3«  The  Incapacity  of  the  Antilles  for  Independent 
Self- government  at  Present  is  their  Misfortune, 
Rather  than  their  Fault, 

In  view  of  our  own  experience,  —  and  the  develop- 
ment of  national  supremacy  in  European  countries 

1Curtis's  History  of  United  States  Constitution,  I.,  419. 
2  Hamilton's  Works,  II.,  419. 


ADAPTED   TO   CUBA  AND  PORTO  EICO.        27 

(France,  Germany,  Holland,  and  Italy)  was  also  slow, 
—  it  can  hardly  be  expected  that  the  "  National  Idea" 
will  be  found  in  either  the  Antilles  or  the  Philippines, 
for  a  considerable  period,  of  a  degree  of  fixity  suffi- 
cient to  warrant  a  belief  in  their  capacity  for  full  self- 
government.  Hence  the  concluoion  that,  until  they 
develop  "  that  instinct  of  cohesion  which  is  essential 
for  the  Formation  of  Majorities,  and  of  that  Respect 
for  the  Majority  which  alone  can  render  a  Minority 
orderly  and  safe,"  these  dependencies  will  lack  this 
prime  element  of  effective  national  action,  —  that  is, 
of  Independent  Self-government. 

This  conclusion,  however  unavoidable,  ought  not  to 
be  considered  as  a  reflection  upon  the  people  of  those 
islands.  Their  lack  of  this  vitalizing  element  of  self- 
government  is  their  misfortune,  rather  than  their  own 
fault ;  nor  can  it  be  reasonably  expected  of  them,  or 
of  any  other  people,  to  reach  at  a  single  step  our 
instinctive  obedience  to  the  Rule  of  the  Majority,  — 
the  condition  precedent  of  orderly  republican  govern- 
ment, —  which  is  the  result,  in  our  case,  of  centuries 
of  experience  after  many  failures  and  set-backs  caused 
by  following  delusive  theories  in  the  art  of  governing. 

If  we  start  them  right,  they  may  be  saved  many 
useless  steps  and  many  hazardous  wanderings;  and 
we  can  then  honestly  say,  as  Daniel  Webster  said  in 
1826,  "  Thank  God  !  They  are  at  school." 

That  school  —  the  primary  school  of  self-govern- 
ment—  is  the  Town  Meeting,  where  all  the  towns- 


28    PRINCIPLES  OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

men  meet,  choose  their  town  officers,  discuss  and 
decide  the  prudential  affairs  of  the  community  in  a 
peaceable  and  orderly  manner.  For  this  purpose  we 
have  only  to  revert  to  their  old  Castilian  Pueblo  Sys- 
tem, traces  of  which  still  survive,  as  an  excellent 
starting-point. 

§  f  4.    Encouraging  Factor  for  the  Regeneration  of 
Cuba  and  Porto  Rico. 

There  is  a  very  favorable  factor,  in  the  case  of 
both  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  which  should  be  duly 
appreciated,  namely :  —  the  preponderance  of  the 
White  population  over  the  combined  mixed  and 
colored  races.  In  no  other  country  of  tropical 
Spanish  America  does  the  White  population  reach 
twenty-five  per  cent.;  but  in  Cuba  (1890)  it  was 
sixty-five  per  cent.,  and  in  Porto  Rico  fifty-seven  per 
cent.,  as  against  sixty-two  per  cent,  in  North  Carolina 
and  fifty-eight  per  cent,  in  Virginia. 

It  is  upon  this  Native  White  Population  that  we 
must  mainly  depend  in  establishing  orderly  govern- 
ment. To  this  end  we  should  protect,  encourage  and 
help  them  to  set  up  their  little  town  governments. 
They  are  largely  of  the  same  Spanish  race,  which  once 
showed  a  capacity  for  self-government  and  individual 
initiative  equal  to  our  own ;  the  germ  of  which  is 
still  in  them,  though  dormant.  The  peculiar  char- 
acteristic of  the  Spanish  American,  in  spite  of  his 


ADAPTED   TO   CUBA  AND  PORTO  EICO.        29 

urbanity,  is  the  difficulty  of  winning  his  confidence ; 
but,  once  won,  it  is  instinctive  and  complete. 

Porto  Rico,  as  the  healthiest  of  the  West  India 
islands  and  without  race  conflict  and  jealousy,  seems 
to  have  a  decided  advantage  over  Cuba  for  the  intro- 
duction of  local  governments  of  the  kind  suggested ; 
it  is,  moreover,  exempt  from  the  spirit  of  lawlessness 
which  has  become  chronic  in  Cuba  during  successive 
revolutions  and  been  fostered  by  the  extent  of  unex- 
plored mountain  fastnesses  which  offer  an  asylum  to 
bandits  and  outlaws. 

In  such  a  work  of  constructive  statesmanship  it 
behooves  us  to  move  cautiously,  tentatively  adapting 
the  system  to  the  actual  capacity  and  comprehension 
of  the  people,  in  order  to  assure  their  confidence  and 
zealous  cooperation. 

With  patience,  tact  and  a  plastic  adaptation  of 
means  to  ends,  it  seems  possible  to  re-create  intelli- 
gent self-government  within  a  few  years  in  Porto 
Rico,  and  perhaps  also  in  Cuba.  At  first  it  will 
require  an  iron  hand  in  a  velvet  glove  to  hold  them 
to  their  work. 


PART  II. 

THE    PHILIPPINES. 

§J5,    Condition  of   the  Philippines  Still   Imperfectly 
Known. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  Philippines  is  perhaps  too 
limited,  in  spite  of  the  valuable  information  already 
collected  by  our  Commissioners  and  others  in  an 
official  capacity  and  by  travellers  and  alien-residents, 
to  enable  us  to  fully  comprehend  the  needs  and 
capacity  of  that  heterogeneous  population. 

We  know,  in  a  general  way,  that  the  mass  of  the 
population  belongs  to  the  Malay  branch  of  the 
Asiatic  race ;  that  there  is  also  considerable  Chinese 
and  Spanish  blood  by  intermarriage ;  that  the  Tagal 
and  Visaya  sections  of  the  Malay  population  have 
not  heretofore  agreed  with  each  other;  that  there 
is  almost  as  great  difference  of  religion  as  of  race, 
and  even  greater  difference  in  stage  of  civilization, 
among  the  Philippine  tribes. 

It  would,  therefore,  seem  ill-advised  at  this  time 
to  act  definitely  upon  the  details  of  the  government 
to  be  established  in  the  Philippines,  and  especially 
unwise  to  attempt  to  frame  a  uniform  system  of 

30 


ADAPTED   TO   THE  PHILIPPINES.  31 

government  and  laws  for  the  whole  archipelago ;  and 
much  less  wise  to  establish  a  single  native  govern- 
ment over  the  whole  population. 

The  concurrent  testimony  of  our  Commission,  of 
our  army  and  navy  officers,  and  of  reliable  writers 
who  have  long  lived  there,  seems  to  be  that  the 
Filipinos  are  not  at  this  time  capable  of  full  self- 
government,  and  of  maintaining  peace,  order  and 
justice,  —  for  which  we  are  solely  responsible. 

If  this  be  so,  we  cannot  shift  our  responsibility 
until  we  have  made  them  capable  of  self-govern- 
ment; meanwhile  we  must  continue  to  provide  for 
them  an  effective  government;  and,  to  this  end, 
assist  them  to  take  a  constantly  increasing  share  in 
the  government,  as  their  capacity  therefor  is  de- 
veloped. It  would,  indeed,  be  a  cruel  blunder  to 
entrust  them  with  powers  of  government  beyond 
their  capacity  to  exercise  wisely ;  for  it  would  cause 
confusion,  perhaps  anarchy. 

As  already  stated,  we  do  not  seek  colonies  as 
"  Commercial  Preserves,"  or  for  their  contributions 
to  our  national  treasury,  or  as  a  new  field  of  Govern- 
ment patronage.  For  this  reason  we  abhor  colonies, 
if  they  are  to  remain  permanently  vassal  states  and 
subject  races. 

Now  that  we  find  ourselves,  by  the  course  of 
events,  in  possession  of  and  responsible  for  these  dis- 
tant islands  and  their  millions  of  people,  differing 
from  us  in  race,  religion,  civilization  and  political 


32    PRINCIPLES  OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

• 

capacity,  it  becomes  our  imperative  duty  to  provide 
for  them  the  form  of  government  best  suited  to 
their  present  needs,  —  and,  moreover,  best  calculated 
to  render  them  self-supporting  and  ultimately  self- 
governing,  as  well  as  more  intelligent,  prosperous 
and  civilized. 

§16,     An  Elastic  and  Tentative  Type  of  Govern- 
ment Recommended* 

While  it  may  not  be  wise  to  frame  a  rigid  form  of 
government  at  this  time  for  the  Philippines,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  time  is  close  at  hand  to  establish  a 
Civil  Government  in  the  place  of  our  Military  Govern- 
ment, —  a  Government  of  Laws,  rather  than  of  Men ; 
and,  because  of  our  imperfect  knowledge  of  their 
condition  and  capacity,  which  vary  immensely  ac- 
cording to  race  and  location,  that  system  should  be 
"  elastic,"  so  as  to  provide  for  its  tentative  applica- 
tion according  to  the  discretion  of  the  United  States 
Governor  resident,  acting  as  the  President's  execu- 
tive officer. 

§  J7«    The  Governor's  Responsibility  should  be  Un- 
divided and  Strict. 

Let  it  not  be  inferred  from  the  "Elastic  and 
Tentative"  type  of  government  suggested,  that  the 
United  States  Governor  would  be  vested  with  des- 
potic powers.  On  the  contrary,  the  vastness  of  his 
responsibility  would  tend  to  make  him  conscientiously 


ADAPTED   TO   THE  PHILIPPINES.  33 

conservative  in  the  performance  of  his  delicate  trust. 
To  maintain  his  strict  responsibility  to  the  President 
and  Congress,  that  responsibility  should  not  be  dis- 
tributed between  the  Governor  and  a  responsible 
Council. 

Our  own  experience  has  placed  an  undivided  ex- 
ecutive responsibility  upon  the  President,  whose  con- 
stitutional advisers  are  not  responsible  ministers,  but 
Secretaries  over  whom  the  President  has  complete 
control;  a  similar  indivisible  personal  responsibility 
of  our  Colonial  Governor  would  avoid  the  divided 
and  therefore  intangible  responsibility  of  the  Spanish 
Colonial  "  Audiencias,"  under  whose  administration 
despotism  and  corruption  reigned  rampant. 

§  J8.    Toleration,  Civil    and    Religious,  should   be  a 
Cardinal  Principle. 

With  this  general  principle  of  Personal  Respon- 
sibility as  our  polar  star  to  direct  the  responsible 
representative  of  our  government  in  the  colony,  we 
should  combine  another  principle  for  the  adaptation 
of  the  government  to  the  condition  of  the  governed. 
That  principle  is  conservative  rather  than  radical, 
and  yet  progressive.  It  may  be  described  as  "  Tolera- 
tion," which  recognizes  the  existing  laws,  customs, 
and  religions  of  the  natives  as  the  results  of  their 
experience  and  race-instincts,  and  therefore  not  to 
be  hastily  set  aside  ;  on  the  contrary,  to  be  reckoned 
as  conducive  to  public  order  during  the  transition 


34    PRINCIPLES  OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

period.  Hence  we  should  seek  to  regenerate  by 
toleration  and  the  development  of  a  progressive 
civilization,  according  to  the  past  experience  and 
race-instincts  of  the  natives. 

In  a  word,  their  racial  type  of  government,  as 
far  as  practicable,  should  guide  us  in  forming  their 
regenerated  government;  their  race-instincts,  rather 
than  our  own,  should  be  our  point  of  departure. 

§J9.    The  "Asiatic  Ideal,"  the  Key  to  Problems  of 
Asiatic  Government* 

Let  us,  then,  realize  that  we  are  dealing  with 
Asiatic  ideals  and  experience,  and  seek  to  compre- 
hend the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Asiatic  mind, 
in  regard  to  government. 

We  read  of  Asiatic  conquests,  sweeping  like  tidal 
waves  across  Asia  from  the  dawn  of  history.  But, 
if  we  read  between  the  lines,  we  shall  (I  think) 
recognize  that  such  wars  were  purely  dynastic ;  that 
they  lack  the  character  of  national  wars ;  that  they 
involve  merely  a  change  of  rulers  and  are  therefore 
determined  by  a  single  great  victory. 

The  reason  is  that  the  mass  of  the  people  take  but 
little  interest  in  the  central  government  and  limit 
their  ambitions  to  the  narrow  horizon  of  their  village 
life.  The  gulf  between  the  Supreme  Monarch  and 
the  plain  man  of  the  people  is  too  vast  for  the  per- 
sonal interest  of  the  former,  or  the  personal  loyalty 


ADAPTED   TO   THE  PHILIPPINES.  35 

of  the  other,  to  cross ;  hence  the  Asiatic  cares  little 
who  wears  the  crown,  and  the  monarch  cares  as 
little  for  his  individual  subjects. 

Thus  the  Village  Community  becomes  to  the  Asiatic 
—  as  to  all  peoples  in  a  primitive  stage  of  civiliza- 
tion— the  only  sphere  of  political  life  and  ambition. 
This  primitive  community  is  governed  by  customs 
and  traditions  of  unknown  antiquity,  which  have  the 
force  of  laws ;  its  traditions  embody  its  political  and 
moral  lore  ;  its  rivalries  and  jealousies  with  near-by 
villages  take  the  place  of  the  national  rivalries  and 
jealousies  of  more  advanced  countries.  Though  the 
horizon  of  their  political  life  is  narrow,  it  is  the 
reverse  of  stagnation;  it  contains  the  germ  of  a 
higher  political  capacity,  which  may  be  developed 
into  national  life. 

This  Asiatic  ideal  —  the  Village  Community  as  the 
centre  of  the  universe  —  runs  throughout  Asia  and 
may  be  considered  as  the  key  for  the  solution  of 
the  problems  of  Asiatic  government. 

Sir  Henry  Maine,  in  his  famous  Lectures  at  Oxford 
on  the  "  Village  Communities  of  India,"  most  truth- 
fully said : 

"The  discovery  and  recognition  of  the  existence  of  the 
Village  Communities  of  India  has  ranked  among  the  greatest 
achievements  of  the  Anglo-Indian  Government." 

It  was  the  recognition  of  these  Communities  and 
their  careful  development,  after  the  British  Govern- 


36    PRINCIPLES  OF  COLONIAL  GOVERNMENT 

ment  undertook  the  government  of  India  in  1858, 
which  has  so  largely  contributed  to  the  peace  and 
progressive  capacity  of  India  for  self-government 
during  the  past  forty  years. 

The  regeneration  of  Egypt,  under  the  administrative 
genius  of  Lord  Cromer,  has  been  carried  out  on  this 
principle,  and  is  justly  considered  a  marvellous  work 
of  constructive  statesmanship. 

The  States  of  the  Malay  peninsula  have  entered 
upon  an  era  of  prosperity  and  peace,  unknown  to  their 
previous  history,  since  the  establishment  of  a  British 
protectorate  based  on  this  principle. 

Japan,  in  her  newly  acquired  colony  of  Formosa, 
has  wisely  followed  out  this  British  policy,  and,  in 
five  years,  has  made  good  progress  in  establishing 
peace  and  orderly  government  in  an  island  "  of  lofty 
and  inaccessible  mountains,  inhabited  by  two  or  three 
millions  of  the  most  dangerous  type  of  Chinamen,  — 
a  variety  of  mixed  breeds,  in  which  the  Papuan 
Negro,  the  Mongolian,  and  the  Malay  predominated,  — 
and  a  multitude  of  lawless  and  untamed  savages  of 
the  most  desperate  nature." 

From  what  we  know  of  the  Philippine  population, 
they  are  vastly  superior  in  every  respect  to  the  people 
of  Formosa,  as  thus  described  by  Mr.  Stafford  Ran- 
some  in  his  recent  (1899)  work  on  "  Japan  in  Tran- 
sition." (Chapter  14.) 


ADAPTED    TO   THE  PHILIPPINES.  37 

§  20.  The  Filipinos  Lack  the  Instinct  of  Cohesion, 
Necessary  for  the  Rale  of  the  Majority  —  the 
Basis  of  Self-government. 

The  correctness  of  this  fundamental  principle  of 
government  for  Asiatic  peoples  is  sustained  by  Mr. 
John  Foreman,  whose  valuable  paper  on  the  Philip- 
pines was  published  in  the  Contemporary  Review 
(Lond.)  for  July,  1898  ;  in  which  he  said : 

"  Families  are  very  closely  united,  but  as  a  people  they 
(the  Filipinos)  have  no  idea  of  union.  The  rivalry  for  pres- 
tige at  the  present  day  between  one  village  and  another  on 
the  coast,  is  sufficient  to  prove  their  tendency  to  disintegrate. 
The  native  likes  to  localize,  to  bring  everything  he  requires, 
or  aspires  to,  within  his  own  little  circle.  If  his  ambition 
were  to  be  a  leader  of  men,  he  would  be  content  to  be  a  king 
in  his  own  town.  .  .  Native  ideas  are  not  expansive  or  far- 
reaching.  I  entertain  a  firm  conviction  that  any  unprotected 
(native)  United  Republic  would  last  only  until  the  novelty  of 
the  situation  had  worn  off ;  then,  I  think,  every  considerable 
island  would  in  turn  declare  its  independence.  Finally,  there 
would  be  complete  chaos."  (JOHN  FOREMAN,  July,  1898.) 

This  conclusion  should  have  great  weight  as  com- 
ing from  a  man  of  such  authority  that  he  was  called 
as  an  expert  before  our  Peace  Commissioners  at  Paris 
in  October,  1898,  to  whom  he  said:  "  The  natives  are 
decidedly  incapable  of  forming  a  stable,  satisfactory, 
and  peacefully-working  government."  He  declared 
his  belief  that  a  free  native  government  could  not  be 
administered  for  the  real  interests  of  the  Common- 


38     PRINCIPLES   OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

wealth,  taking  into  account  the  rights  of  large  minor- 
ities ;  and  that  it  would  assume  a  still  more  corrupt 
form  of  Spanish  maladministration,  and  result  in  a 
long  period  of  anarchy. 

Thus  it  seems  to  be  the  concurrent  testimony  of 
our  Admiral  Dewey  and  our  Philippine  Commissioners 
and  of  specially  qualified  observers,  that  the  Fili- 
pinos lack  the  capacity  of  national  government ;  that 
their  capacity  is  limited  to  the  management  of  their 
village  communities.  Hence  here,  —  at  the  village 
community,  —  we  must  look  for  our  starting-point. 

We  have  already  discussed  the  existence  of  Village 
Communities  throughout  Asia,  and  may  now  proceed 
to  the  general  principle  which  gives  them  vitality. 

§  2J.    "Village    Solidarity,"  the   Basic  Principle    of 
Government  in  India* 

That  principle  is  the  "  Solidarity  of  the  Village,"  — 
that  the  Village  is  an  indivisible  unit  based  upon  com- 
munistic ideals ;  that  the  Village  conducts  all  negotia- 
tions with  the  Central  Government.  The  Village  is  a 
democracy  governed  by  its  own  chosen  officers ;  the 
Village,  not  the  individual  inhabitant,  is  the  party 
taxed  by  the  Government.  The  Village  officers  distrib- 
ute, collect,  and  pay  the  taxes  assessed  on  the  village, 
and  they  discipline  the  inhabitant  for  his  misconduct. 

By  "Villages"  should  be  understood  territorial 
districts  or  Townships  comprising  the  habitable  coun- 
try, so  that  the  whole  country  may  be  said  to  be 


ADAPTED    TO   THE  PHILIPPINES.  39 

divided  into  territorial  village  governments  of  a  com- 
pletely democratic  type.  The  part  of  the  village 
territory  not  used  for  house-lots,  is  undivided  common 
property,  used  as  common  planting  fields,  commons 
of  pasture,  of  meadow  and  of  woodland,  in  charge  of 
village  officers. 

Thus  we  have  the  source  of  self-government  in  the 
Village  Communities  of  India,  in  the  "  Mura  "  (village) 
of  Japan,  in  the  "  Mir "  (village)  of  Russia,  and  of 
the  Castilian  "  Pueblo,"  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  Town, 
—  all  of  which  were  essentially  self-governing  democ- 
racies. 

The  fact  that  the  Russian  "  Mir  "  is  the  latest  town- 
system  imported  from  Asia,  and  its  most  complete 
exponent  of  the  communistic  ideal  of  the  Asiatic 
mind,  seems  sufficient  to  account  for  the  peaceful  and 
rapid  extension  of  the  Russian  colonies  from  the  Ural 
Mountains  to  the  Pacific. 

Indeed,  the  completeness  of  village  political  life 
under  this  system  of  democratic  microcosms,  and  its 
independence  of  the  Supreme  Government,  seem  to 
account  for  the  apparent  paradox  of  democratic  local 
autonomy  under  absolute  national  despotism.  It  may 
be  further  asserted  that,  however  tumultuous  or  chaotic 
the  fate  of  the  dynastic  government,  the  village  life 
continues  almost  unruffled  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion. 

"  Village  Solidarity,"  therefore,  is  the  ruling  prin- 
ciple of  Asiatic  government ;  and  our  success  in 


40     PRINCIPLES  OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

framing  a  form  of  government  for  the  Philippines 
will  largely  depend  upon  the  careful  recognition  of 
this  principle. 

Starting,  then,  with  the  village  as  the  tactical 
political  unit,  we  should  advance  by  grouping  villages 
into  counties  —  but  always  maintaining  the  village 
autonomy  —  for  certain  special  purposes,  such  as  su- 
perior courts  and  inter-village  public  works  like 
county  roads,  water  supply,  irrigation,  and  higher 
education.  The  county  boards,  in  charge  of  these 
extra-village  interests,  should  consist  of  representa- 
tives of  the  villages  elected  by  their  townsmen. 

Thence,  as  their  capacity  develops,  an  advance 
can  be  made  to  provincial  or  insular  legislative  gov- 
ernments, until  at  last  the  Philippines  may  be  trusted 
with  full  self-government,  in  Colonial  affairs,  under 
a  United  States  Governor-General  with  a  veto 
power. 

This  is  the  general  policy  which  has  proved  so 
successful  in  the  British  Colonies.  Among  the  tropi- 
cal Colonies  of  Great  Britain,  the  mass  of  the  people 
are  of  inferior  colored  races  whose  autonomy  is  still 
limited  to  local  affairs.  Yet,  in  India  (according  to 
Sir  Charles  Dilke's  "  Problems  of  Greater  Britain"), 
the  problem  of  local  self-government  has  been  solved 
in  a  most  satisfactory  manner ;  so  that,  by  the  end  of 
this  century,  it  may  be  predicted  that,  in  the  cities, 
village  communities  and  rural  districts  throughout 


ADAPTED    TO   THE  PHILIPPINES.  41 

India,  the  government  will  be  "  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people." 

The  same  great  work  is  going  on  throughout  the 
vast  expanse  of  European  and  Asiatic  Russia,  taking 
the  "  Mir  "  as  the  tactical  political  unit.  The  benefi- 
cent character  of  this  work  is  a  fitting  complement 
to  the  abolition  of  serfdom  in  Russia. 

§  22.    The   Japanese   **  Mura  System/*  a  Factor  of 
Self-government. 

Perhaps  the  most  instructive  lesson  for  the  case 
now  under  consideration,  is  the  "  Mura "  or  village 
system  of  Japan ;  and  from  it  we  may  deduce  princi- 
ples for  application  in  some  parts  of  the  Philippines. 

A  study  of  the  "  Mura  System  "  impresses  us  with 
the  principle,  already  developed,  of  an  ideal  demo- 
cratic village  government  under  the  supervision  of 
a  strong  central  government  of  an  exactly  opposite 
character.  This  same  observation  applies  equally  to 
the  Russian  "  Mir,"  and  the  village  communities  of 
India  and  of  Egypt  under  the  British  rule.  Hence 
we  may  find  that,  by  adapting  this  principle  to  the 
condition  of  the  Philippines,  we  may  establish  a  con- 
sistent government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and 
for  the  people  in  their  local  affairs,  —  apparently  all 
they  are  now  capable  of  using  wisely,  —  and  yet  pre- 
serve our  firm  but  kindly  control  of  their  training  in 
the  art  of  self-government;  and,  at  the  same  time, 


42    PRINCIPLES  OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

assure  their  present  prosperity  and  steady  progress 
to  an  intelligent  and  solid  national  development. 

The  most  thorough  information  in  regard  to  the 
Japanese  "  Mura  System  "  has  been  published  (1890) 
in  the  "  Transactions  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan  " 
(Vol.  xix.,  p.  37-272),  —  the  posthumous  papers  of 
Dr.  D.  B.  Simmons  (graduate  of  the  New  York  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons),  who  spent  twenty- 
five  years  in  Japan,  dying  there  in  1889.  His  discovery 
and  exposition  of  the  village  communities  of  Japan 
and  their  influence  on  the  political  development  of  the 
Japanese,  —  whereby  Japan  has,  within  a  single  gen- 
eration, emerged  from  obscurity  to  a  recognized  posi- 
tion as  a  World  Power  in  the  family  of  civilized 
nations,  —  places  Doctor  Simmons  as  the  compeer 
of  Sir  Henry  Maine  in  this  unique  sphere  of  investi- 
gation. To  this  comprehensive  publication  and  to 
Mr.  Arthur  May  Knapp's  more  recent  (1897)  work 
on  "Feudal  and  Modern  Japan,"  reference  is  made 
for.  more  complete  information.  But  for  our  present 
purpose  the  following  summary  will  suffice. 

The  village  communities  of  Japan  were  as  highly 
organized  and  as  independent  and  democratic  in  the 
conduct  of  their  municipal  affairs  as  those  of  New 
England.  Instead  of  the  rural  population  living  in 
ignorance  of  the  laws  and  of  their  individual  rights, 
"  there  was  probably  no  country  in  the  world,"  says 
Doctor  Simmons,  "  where  the  mass  of  the  people, 
down  to  the  smallest  farmer  in  possession  of  a  few 


ADAPTED   TO   THE  PHILIPPINES.  43 

square  yards  of  land,  was  more  familiar  with  their 
rights  and  duties  than  in  Japan."  The  government 
of  the  people  by  themselves,  under  the  "  Mura  Sys- 
tem," is  the  true  source  of  order  and  instinctive  polit- 
ical capacity,  upon  which  the  modern  government  of 
Japan  is  built. 

Our  New  England  Town  System,  which  represents 
the  result  of  more  than  a  thousand  years  of  experi- 
ence in  local  self-government,  is  recognized  as  having 
successfully  solved  the  problem  of  popular  local  gov- 
ernment. Yet  to  Japan,  under  perhaps  the  most 
conservative  government  of  the  unchanging  Far  East, 
"  belongs  the  credit  of  having  solved  the  same  problem 
in  the  same  way." 

In  the  management  of  their  local  affairs,  the  Jap- 
anese "  Mura  "  (village  community)  possessed  almost 
complete  autonomy.  Local  taxation  was  entirely 
under  their  control ;  the  estimates  of  local  expenses 
were  formed  by  the  Mayor  ("  nanushi ")  and  Heads 
of  the  five-family  groups  ("Kumi")  which  consti- 
tuted the  village.  The  farmers  (taxpayers)  were 
then  assembled  in  Town  Meeting  and  each  item  of 
the  budget  thus  formed  was  discussed ;  the  approval 
of  the  Town  Meeting  was  required  to  pass  the  budget 
and  authorize  taxation  to  cover  the  cost.  The  budget 
thus  approved  next  went  to  the  "  Daikwan  "  (repre- 
sentative of  the  general  government),  who  was  required 
to  examine  and  advise,  but  had  no  power  to  veto  or 


44     PRINCIPLES  OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

increase  the  appropriation;  his  functions  were  advi- 
sory only,  for  the  protection  of  the  taxpayers ;  but,  if 
they  had  doubts  about  the  proper  use  of  the  money 
voted,  they  could  demand  that  an  official  investigation 
be  made  by  him. 

The  "  Kumi,"  or  company,  was  a  five-family  group 
or  neighborhood,  irrespective  of  the  wealth  or  rank 
of  the  neighboring  families.  It  was  as  old  as  the 
"  Mura  "  itself  and  constituted  the  basis  of  the  public 
peace,  precisely  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  "  frank-pledge " 
(Frith)  bound  the  Tything,  or  ten-family  group, 
to  maintain  each  other's  good  conduct.  Thus  mu- 
tual responsibility  — responsibility  for  your  neigh- 
bor in  the  good  and  bad  events  of  life  —  created  a 
bond  which  assured  combined  action,  "  that  cohesion  " 
which  is  necessary  for  the  rule  of  the  majority,  which 
makes  a  minority  orderly  and  safe.  Thus  every  man 
felt  himself  not  only  a  citizen,  but  as  responsible  for 
the  conduct  of  his  neighbors  and  as  interested  in 
their  welfare. 

Hence  the  "  Kumi "  became  the  centre  of  social  as 
well  as  political  life ;  every  neighborhood  (Kumi) 
practically  became  its  own  Insurance  Company  and 
Charitable  Association ;  in  case  of  fire,  the  whole 
neighborhood  joined  in  rebuilding  the  house ;  in 
case  of  sickness  or  death  the  extra  care  and  expense 
were  shared,  when  necessary,  by  the  five-family 
group  (Kumi)  to  which  the  sufferer  belonged.  The 
heads  of  family  in  the  "Kumi"  settled  disputes 


ADAPTED   TO   THE  PHILIPPINES.  45 

among  its  members,  wherever  possible ;  if  impos- 
sible, the  heads  of  the  several  "  Kumi "  constituting 
the  village  intervened,  when  called  upon,  and  settled 
the  controversy  by  friendly  arbitration. 

§  23.  Obedience  to  the  Will  of  the  Majority  Alone 
Makes  the  Minority  Orderly  and  Safe ;  Without 
It  Self-government  Impossible. 

These  details,  petty  in  themselves,  indicate  the 
source  of  that  respect  and  obedience  to  the  will  of 
the  majority,  without  which  self-government  is  sure 
to  prove  a  failure.  Unless  the  minority  accepts  the 
legally  expressed  will  of  the  majority  as  conclusive, 
minorities  are  neither  orderly  nor  safe ;  this  lack  of 
"  cohesion  "  is  fatal,  tending  to  political  anarchy  and 
chaos.1 

Hence,  to  assure  a  successful  national  government 
in  the  Philippines,  we  must  »ee  to  it  that  the  political 
units,  which  are  to  constitute  it,  are  sufficiently 
trained  in  their  local  governments  (e.g.  town,  county, 
or  province)  to  form  and  respect  the  majority's  will 
as  conclusive.  Therefore,  to  build  a  national  form  of 
government  hi  the  Philippines,  before  this  condition 
precedent  is  assured  in  the  political  units  of  the  archi- 

1 A  state  may  be  defined  as  a  Political  Community,  the  members 
of  which  are  bound  together  by  the  tie  of  a  common  subjection  -to 
some  central  authority,  whose  commands  the  bulk  of  them  habit- 
ually obey.  If  there  is  no  such  obedience,  there  is  anarchy  ;  and 
in  proportion  as  obedience  is  lacking,  the  community  runs  the  risk 
of  losing  its  statehood.  (Lawrence's  International  Law,  §43.) 


46     PRINCIPLES   OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

pelago,  would  be  as  unwise  as  to  build  a  National 
Capitol  without  first  assuring  the  stability  of  its 
foundation. 

This  explains  why  the  United  States  have  proved 
a  marvellous  success  in  self-government ;  why  our 
Town  Meeting  and  Public  School  are  the  vitalizing 
factors  of  national  self-government,  which  seems 
capable  of  indefinite  expansion  so  long  as  these  two 
vitalizing  factors  are  kept  in  vigorous  activity. 

Conversely,  we  cannot  incorporate  in  our  Union, 
as  Territories  (much  less  as  States),  on  terms  of 
political  equality  and  with  promise  of  statehood,  any 
territory  with  a  dense  native  population  which  has 
not  attained  this  condition  precedent  of  self-govern- 
ment, without  hazarding  the  welfare  of  the  Union. 

§  24.    A  New  Legal  Status  —  u  Colonial  Depend- 
encies n  —  Should  Be  Created. 

Hence  it  seems  that,  with  colonial  expansion,  we 
must  provide  a  new  legal  status,  "  Colonial  Depend- 
encies," distinct  from  our  "  Territories."  The  new 
colonies  are  all  of  a  radically  lower  stage  of  political 
capacity ;  while  our  Territories  have  generally  been 
of  the  same  race  as  our  States,  and  settled  from  them, 
and  therefore  have  been  considered  to  be  in  a  condi- 
tion of  probation  for  statehood. 

But  our  new  colonies,  in  the  East  Indies  especially 
and  to  a  less  degree  in  the  West  Indies,  are  not  of 
the  same  race  and  political  capacity  as  our  own  popu- 


ADAPTED   TO   TH3  PHILIPPINES.  47 

lation ;  therefore  they  should  not  be  admitted  to  the 
status  of  Territories  with  the  right  of  ultimate  state- 
hood at  present,  however  desirous  they  may  be  of 
admission  to  an  equality  with  our  Territories. 

Therefore  it  seems  inevitable  that  our  body  politic 
must  be  enlarged  by  the  creation  of  a  new  legal  status 
—  that  of  "  Colonial  Dependencies,"  for  the  reason 
that  they  cannot  be  governed  by  the  same  uniform 
laws  as  our  Territories,  on  account  of  their  radical 
difference  of  condition  and  political  capacity,  not 
only  when  compared  with  our  Territories,  but  when 
compared  with  each  other. 

A  change  from  Military  to  Civil  Government  in  all 
our  Colonial  Dependencies  —  from  a  government  of 
men  to  a  government  of  Law  —  seems  desirable  as  soon 
as  it  can  be  done  with  safety ;  but  this  by  no  means 
would  exclude  the  military  support  of  the  Civil  Gov- 
ernment. This  involves  the  creation  of  colonial 
governments,  varying  in  type  and  powers  to  conform 
to  the  needs  and  capacity  of  the  different  colonies. 
The  establishment  of  a  Colonial  Bureau  or  Depart- 
ment seems  inevitable  as  the  best  means  of  systematic 
governmental  oversight  of  the  colonies  and  of  their 
advancement  to  be  self-governing  and  self-supporting 
as  soon  as  practicable. 

In  this  Memorandum,  it  has  been  intended  to 
suggest  the  underlying  principles  of  Colonial  Govern- 
ment suited  to  the  respective  needs  and  political  capac- 


48     PRINCIPLES   OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

ity  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  as  one  group,  and  of  the 
Philippines  as  a  distinct  group.  The  experience  of 
other  countries  has  been  adverted  to  as  suggestions, 
rather  than  formulations  of  a  particular  system  of 
Colonial  Government 

§  25.  Tendency  of  the  Age  to  National  Consolidation 
and  Imperial  Expansion  and  to  International 
Combination. 

The  new  stage  of  National  Development,  upon 
which  we  are  now  entering,  is  not  peculiar  to  our 
country ;  it  is  a  world-growth  of  the  most  far-reaching 
character  for  good  or  for  evil,  as  it  shall  be  handled. 

The  tendency  of  the  past  half  century  has  been 
toward  National  Consolidation  and  Imperial  Expan- 
sion, and  International  Combination. 

The  Unification  of  Germany  and  of  Italy,  —  the 
Federation  of  Canada  and  of  Australia,  —  the  Con- 
solidation of  the  Presidencies  of  British  India  as  an 
Empire,  —  the  Expansion  of  Russia  eastward  and  of 
the  United  States  westward  from  ocean  to  ocean, — 
the  tendency  to  combine  British  South  Africa  as  a 
Dominion,  —  the  International  Combination  for  the 
Partition  of  Africa  and  attempted  Partition  of  China ; 
—  all  these  historic  events  indicate  the  tendency  of 
the  age  to  the  consolidation  of  political  power  through- 
out the  world  in  the  hands  of  a  few  great  "  World 
Powers." l 

1Prof.  T.  J.  Lawrence,  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  Eng- 


ADAPTED   TO   THE  PHILIPPINES.  49 

The  time-honoured  doctrine  of  the  Equality  of 
Nations,  laid  down  by  Grotius,  "  the  Father  of  Inter- 
national Law,"  is  disappearing  as  a  recognized  prin- 
ciple of  International  Law  before  the  growing  modern 
doctrine  of  the  Primacy  of  the  Great  Powers,  as  the 
guardians  of  the  World's  Peace. 

The  latest  phase  of  this  new  doctrine  is  the 
tendency  to  International  Arbitration,  which,  in  fact, 
though  not  avowed,  is  a  combination  of  the  Great 
Powers  of  Europe  and  the  United  States  for  the  settle- 
ment of  the  international  controversies  of  the  whole 
world,  under  their  guidance,  without  war,  —  exceptis 
exceptandis.  Hence  also  the  "  Concert  of  Europe," 
the  "  Triple  Alliance,"  and  the  doctrine  of  "  Spheres 

land,  in  his  recent  treatise  (1898)  on  International  Law  (§  134) 
thus  describes  the  modern  doctrine  of  the  Primacy  of  the  Great 
Powers  : 

"The  doctrine  of  the  Equality  of  Nations  is  becoming  obsolete 
and  must  be  superseded  by  the  doctrine  that  a  Primacy,  with 
regard  to  some  important  matters,  is  vested  in  the  foremost 
Powers  of  the  civilized  world.  .  .  .  The  agreement  of  the  Six 
Great  Powers  is  called  the  "Concert  of  Europe ;  "  that  what  is 
done  by  their  concerted  action,  is  done  in  behalf  of  the  whole  of 
Europe  and  is  binding  upon  the  other  states,  even  though  they 
have  not  been  consulted. 

"On  the  American  Continent  a  similar  Primacy,  though 
hardly  of  so  pronounced  a  character,  seems  to  be  vested  in  the 
United  States." 

Mr.  H.  H.  Powers,  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Political  Science  for  September,  1896  (p.  15),  takes  similar 
grounds  : 

"It  is  probable  that  a  generation  more  will  see  the  entire 
world  under  the  jurisdiction,  or  within  the  '  Sphere  of  Influ- 
ence,' of  half  a  dozen  Powers." 


50     PRINCIPLES   OF  COLONIAL   GOVERNMENT 

of   Influence"   may  be   considered   as  International 
Combinations  to  avert  war. 

§  26.  Toleration  —  the  recognition  that  the  race-in- 
stincts of  the  natives,  as  evinced  by  their  laws  and 
religious  systems,  cannot  be  changed  by  legislation 
any  more  than  the  color  of  their  skin  —  necessary 
in  governing  races  different  from  our  own. 

Every  considerable  race,  above  savagery,  represents 
its  peculiar  type  of  civilization ;  and  it  may  be  as- 
sumed that  no  particular  form  of  government  or  of 
religion,  accepted  by  great  races,  has  not  some  pecu- 
liar fitness  to  the  needs  and  instincts  of  such  peoples. 
Certainly  neither  Confucius,  nor  Buddha,  nor  Mo- 
hammed could  have  extended,  and  maintained  for 
centuries,  their  religious  systems  over  hundreds  of 
millions  of  our  fellow  men,  unless  their  religious 
teachings  had  met  the  instinctive  response  oi  their 
followers.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  three  great 
branches  of  Christendom  :  —  the  Greek  Catholic,  the 
Roman  Catholic,  and  the  Protestant  Churches. 

Hence  the  importance  of  "  Toleration "  in  both 
civil  and  religious  matters,  as  the  cardinal  principle 
of  our  colonial  policy ;  in  other  words,  our  recognition 
that  the  laws,  customs,  and  religions  of  the  natives 
are  the  results  of  their  race-instincts  and  ages  of 
experience  and  are  generally  interwoven  in  their 
character ;  for  which  reason  they  should  not  be  hastily 
set  aside,  but  rather  reckoned  as  conducive  to  public 


ADAPTED   TO   THE  PHILIPPINES.  51 

order  and  therefore  to  be  utilized  during  the  transi- 
tion period  just  commencing  under  our  control. 

Let  us,  then,  see  to  it  that  whatever  we  find  in  them 
of  living  force  and  good  tendency  be  recognized  and 
utilized  in  forwarding  the  regeneration  of  our  Colonial 
wards,  whether  they  live  in  the  East  Indies  or  the 
West  Indies.  As  their  general  intelligence  and  polit- 
ical capacity  increase,  their  race-instincts  will  improve 
and  enable  them  to  choose,  more  wisely  than  political 
theorists  and  zealous  missionaries,  what  they  can 
practically  assimilate.  We  have  gone  to  those  colo- 
nies to  regenerate  and  develop  their  political  capacity 
to  govern  themselves  and  then  be  entrusted  with  the 
control  of  their  own  destiny,  —  not  on  a  missionary 
voyage  seeking  to  guide  those  peoples  through  the 
labyrinths  of  dogmatic  theology. 

As  already  emphasized,  we  must  form  governments 
and  laws  to  conform  to  their  present  condition  and 
race-instincts,  rather  than  to  ours.  We  cannot,  by 
mere  legislation,  change  those  instincts  any  more 
than  we  can  change  the  color  of  their  skin.  Nor 
must  we  allow  the  conceit  or  over-zeal  of  civil  or 
religious  reform,  however  nobly  inspired,  to  usurp 
the  functions  of  a  comprehensive  statesmanship  in 
directing  the  practical  regeneration  and  advancement 
of  these  millions,  whose  welfare  we  are  bound  to 
promote  according  to  our  best  judgment. 


APPENDIX. 

In  this  memorandum  the  close  historical  connection 
between  the  "  Castilian  Pueblo  System "  of  Spanish 
America  and  the  "  Old  Anglo-Saxon  Town  System  " 
of  New  England  is  outlined  as  the  basis  of  that  virile 
energy  and  individual  initiative  and  capacity  for  self- 
government,  which  distinctively  marked  the  Spanish 
and  the  English  settlers  of  America  as  successful  col- 
onizers. In  order  not  to  break  the  continuity  of  the 
argument,  only  the  salient  features  of  these  kindred 
systems  of  local  self-government  were  outlined :  but 
for  the  student  of  municipal  government,  a  more 
detailed  account  is  very  suggestive. 

In  1872  the  Charles  Sumner  of  the  Chilean  Senate, 
the  late  Don  Manuel  J.  Yrarrazaval,  whom  I  had 
known  intimately  since  we  met  as  students  in  Europe, 
wrote  me  for  detailed  information  in  regard  to  our 
New  England  Town  System  as  well  as  other  points 
of  our  political  organization.  In  the  course  of  this 
research,  I  was  able  to  trace  back  our  New  England 
Town  System  to  the  time  of  Alfred  the  Great,  whose 
niece  Elthrude,  wife  of  Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders, 
gave  the  manor  of  East  Greenwich  in  the  county  of 
Kent  to  the  Benedictine  Abbey  of  St.  Peter's  at 

53 


54  APPENDIX. 

Ghent,  for  the  "  health  of  the  souls  "  of  herself,  her 
husband,  and  two  sons.  In  that  charter  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  that  manor  were  described  at  length, 
and  extended  to  those  who  inhabited  that  manor. 
That  charter  was  repeatedly  confirmed  by  subsequent 
sovereigns  down  to  Henry  V.,  when  foreign  monas- 
tery lands  were  surrendered  to  the  Crown,  and  by 
the  King  the  trusts  upon  which  they  were  held  were 
transferred  to  English  monasteries.  Thus  the  manor 
of  East  Greenwich  was  regranted  to  the  Cistercian 
Abbey  at  Shene  upon  the  same  terms  and  for  the 
same  uses,  and  so  continued  until  early  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIII.,  who  wished  to  build  a  palace  on  the 
summit  of  the  hill,  which  partly  belonged  to  the  Royal 
Manor  of  Greenwich,  and  partly  to  the  Cistercian 
Manor  of  East  Greenwich.  To  obtain  the  fee  of  the 
latter  he  offered  another  manor  in  exchange,  and 
guaranteed  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Manor  of  East 
Greenwich  the  perpetual  enjoyment  of  their  old  char- 
tered rights.  The  palace  there  built  became  the 
favorite  residence  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  there  was  born 
his  famous  daughter,  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that,  on  the  confiscation  of 
monastery  lands  throughout  England,  the  king  had 
debarred  himself  from  changing  the  rights  and  liber- 
ties of  the  people  of  "  Our  Royal  Manor  of  East 
Greenwich  in  the  County  of  Kent;"  in  which  had 
been  preserved  the  rights  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  period 
of  Alfred  the  Great 


APPENDIX.  55 

Sir  Edward  Coke  is  said  to  have  suggested  this 
tenure  of  lands  in  America;  at  least  we  know  that 
our  Massachusetts  Colonial  Charter  describes  them  as 
holden  "  as  of  our  Royal  Manor  of  East  Greenwich  " 
etc.  So  that  we  may  safely  say  that  our  New  Eng- 
land Town  System  is  directly  descended  from  the 
Anglo-Saxon  Town  System  of  Alfred  the  Great's 
time. 

The  Castilian  Pueblo  System  was  based  upon  the 
laws  and  liberties  of  Castile  compiled  in  the  Fuero 
Juzgo  (A.D.  693),  the  Siete  Partidas  (A.D.  1348),  and 
the  Castilian  code  of  Montalvo  (A.D.  1485),  known  as 
the  Ordenaneias  Reales,  supplemented  by  additional 
Codes  in  the  time  of  Queen  Isabella.  It  was  the 
great  wish  of  that  "  good  queen  "  to  have  the  Munic- 
ipal Law  of  Castile  codified  for  the  use  of  her  sub- 
jects in  Spanish  America,  and  the  work  was  in 
progress  at  the  time  of  her  death,  subsequently  known 
as  the  "  Laws  of  the  Indies."  Thus  we  trace  back  to 
the  beginning  of  the  Eighth  Century,  substantially  to 
the  time  of  King  Alfred,  the  original  rights  of  the 
Castilian  Pueblo. 

In  the  "  Laws  of  the  Indies  "  (Book  II.,  Title  I., 
Law  2)  we  read  the  following  legal  status  of  Spanish 
America : 

"  We  decree  and  command  that,  in  all  cases  not  decided  nor 
provided  by  the  laws  contained  in  this  compilation,  the  laws 
of  our  kingdom  of  Castile  shall  be  observed  according  to  the 
Law  of  Toro." 


56  APPENDIX, 

The  Cortes  of  Castile  held  at  Toro  in  1505  was 
largely  devoted  to  the  confirmation  of  Town  rights. 

In  Welch  v.  Sullivan,  8  California  165,  and  par- 
ticularly in  Hart  v.  Burnett,  15  California  530,  will 
be  found  very  comprehensive  reviews,  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  California,  of  the  Pueblo  System  as  it  existed 
in  California  at  the  time  of  its  annexation  to  the 
United  States. 

I  may  add  that  the  "  Hacienda  System  "  of  Chile, 
which  I  carefully  studied  during  a  visit  in  Chile,  1879- 
80,  is  almost  the  reproduction  of  the  English  Manor 
System  in  the  time  of  the  Tudors,  —  with  its  common 
planting-fields,  commons  of  pasture,  of  meadow,  of 
woodland  ;  with  the  rent  paid  in  labor,  so  many  days 
in  the  week  ;  with  its  support  of  public  worship  and 
care  of  the  sick  and  orphan.  So  that,  as  stated  in 
this  memorandum,  "  the  Old  Castilian  Pueblo  System, 
traces  of  which  still  survive,  would  constitute  an 
excellent  starting-point '~'  for  the  regeneration  of 
Spanish-American  peoples. 

HORACE  N.  FISHER. 


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